
Combining Seatbelt and LATCH Lower
Anchors for Attaching Child Safety Seats
When used in combination, either the
seatbelt or the LATCH lower anchors may
be attached first, provided a proper
installation is achieved. Attach the tether
strap afterward, if included with the child
seat.
Using Tether Straps
Many forward-facing child safety
seats include a tether strap which
extends from the back of the child
safety seat and hooks to an anchoring point
called the top tether anchor. Tether straps
are available as an accessory for many older
safety seats.
Contact the manufacturer of your child seat
for information about ordering a tether strap,
or to obtain a longer tether strap if the tether
strap on your safety seat does not reach the
appropriate top tether anchor in your vehicle. Once the child safety seat has been installed
using either the seatbelt, the lower anchors
of the LATCH system, or both, you can attach
the top tether strap.
The tether strap anchors in your vehicle are
in the following positions (shown from top
view):
Perform the following steps to install a child
safety seat with tether anchors:Note:
If you install a child seat with rigid
LATCH attachments, do not tighten the
tether strap enough to lift the child seat off
your vehicle seat cushion when the child is
seated in it. Keep the tether strap just snug
without lifting the front of the child seat.
Keeping the child seat just touching your
vehicle seat gives the best protection in a
severe crash.
1. Route the child safety seat tether strap over the back of the seat. For outboard
seating positions, route the tether strap
under the head restraint and between
the head restraint posts. For the center
seating position, route the tether strap
over the top of the head restraint. If
needed, the head restraints can also be
removed.
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following drawings compare the ideal fit
(center) to a shoulder belt uncomfortably
close to the neck and a shoulder belt that
could slip off the shoulder. The drawings also
show how the lap belt should be low and
snug across the child's hips.
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PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
WARNINGS
Always drive and ride with your
seatback upright and the lap belt snug
and low across the hips. To reduce the risk of injury, make sure
children sit where they can be properly
restrained. Never let a passenger hold a child on
his or her lap while your vehicle is
moving. The passenger cannot protect the
child from injury in a crash. All occupants of your vehicle, including
the driver, should always properly wear
their safety belts, even when an airbag
supplemental restraint system is provided.
Failure to properly wear your safety belt
could seriously increase the risk of injury or
death. WARNINGS
It is extremely dangerous to ride in a
cargo area, inside or outside of a
vehicle. In a crash, people riding in these
areas are more likely to be seriously injured
or killed. Do not allow people to ride in any
area of your vehicle that is not equipped with
seats and safety belts. Be sure everyone in
your vehicle is in a seat and using a safety
belt properly. In a rollover crash, an unbelted person
is significantly more likely to die than
a person wearing a safety belt. Each seating position in your vehicle
has a specific safety belt assembly
which is made up of one buckle and one
tongue that are designed to be used as a
pair. 1) Use the shoulder belt on the outside
shoulder only. Never wear the shoulder belt
under the arm. 2) Never swing the safety belt
around your neck over the inside shoulder.
3) Never use a single belt for more than one
person. WARNINGS
When possible, all children 12 years old
and under should be properly
restrained in a rear seating position. Failure
to follow this could seriously increase the
risk of injury or death. Safety belts and seats can become hot
in a vehicle that has been closed up in
sunny weather; they could burn a small child.
Check seat covers and buckles before you
place a child anywhere near them. Front and rear seat occupants,
including pregnant women, should
wear safety belts for optimum protection in
an accident. All seating positions in your vehicle have lap
and shoulder safety belts. All occupants of
the vehicle should always properly wear their
safety belts, even when an airbag
supplemental restraint system is provided.
The safety belt system consists of:
•
Lap and shoulder safety belts.
• Shoulder safety belt with automatic
locking mode, (except driver safety belt).
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Slide the clip away from the tongue so there
is no loose webbing when an occupant or
child seat is buckled up. You can also use
the sliding clip to raise the tongue and
prevent it from rattling or to ease access to
the tongue.
Using Seatbelts During Pregnancy
WARNING
Always ride and drive with your
seatback upright and properly fasten
your seatbelt. Fit the lap portion of the
seatbelt snugly and low across the hips.
Position the shoulder portion of the seatbelt
across your chest. Pregnant women must
follow this practice. See the following figure. Pregnant women should always wear their
seatbelt. Position the lap belt portion of a
combination lap and shoulder belt low across
the hips below the belly and worn as tight
as comfort allows. Position the shoulder belt
to cross the middle of the shoulder and the
center of the chest.
Seatbelt Locking Modes WARNINGS
After a crash, have a qualified
technician check all the seatbelts to
make sure the seatbelts including the
automatic locking retractor feature for child
restraints operate properly. We recommend
replacing any system that has damage or
does not operate properly. Failure to do so
can result in personal injury or death in the
event of a sudden stop or another crash. You must replace the seatbelt if the
automatic locking retractor or any other
seatbelt function is not operating correctly.
Failure to replace the seatbelt and retractor
assembly could increase the risk of injury in
a crash. All safety restraints in the vehicle are
combination lap and shoulder belts. The
driver seatbelt has the vehicle sensitive
locking mode. The front outboard passenger
and rear seat seatbelts have both the vehicle
sensitive locking mode and the automatic
locking mode.
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3. Allow the belt to retract. As the belt
retracts, you will hear a clicking sound.
This indicates the seatbelt is now in the
automatic locking mode.
How to Disengage the Automatic Locking
Mode
Unbuckle the combination lap and shoulder
belt and allow it to retract completely to
disengage the automatic locking mode and
activate the vehicle sensitive (emergency)
locking mode.
Rear Inflatable Seatbelt (If Equipped) WARNING
Do not attempt to service, repair, or
modify rear inflatable seatbelts.
The rear inflatable seatbelts are in the
shoulder portion of the seatbelts of the
second-row outboard seating positions. Note:
The rear inflatable seatbelts are
compatible with most infant and child safety
car seats and belt positioning booster seats
when properly installed. This is because they
are designed to fill with a cooled gas at a
lower pressure and at a slower rate than
traditional airbags. After inflation, the
shoulder portion of the seatbelt remains cool
to the touch.
The rear inflatable seatbelt consists of the
following:
• An inflatable bag in the shoulder seatbelt
webbing.
• Lap seatbelt webbing with automatic
locking mode.
• The same warning light, electronic
control and diagnostic unit as used for
the front seatbelts.
• Impact sensors in various parts of the
vehicle. How does the rear inflatable seatbelt
system work? WARNING
If the rear inflatable seatbelt has
deployed, it will not function again and
must be replaced immediately. If the seatbelt
is not replaced, the unrepaired area will
increase the risk of injury in a crash. The rear inflatable seatbelts function like
standard restraints in everyday usage.
During a crash of sufficient force, the
inflatable belt inflates from inside the
webbing.
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Deactivating and Activating the Belt-Minder
Feature
WARNING
While the system allows you to switch
this feature off, the intent of the system
is to remind you to wear your safety belt to
improve your chance to survive an accident.
We recommend you leave the system
switched on for yourself and others who may
use the vehicle. Note:
The driver and front passenger
warnings switch on and off independently.
When you perform this procedure for one
seating position, do not buckle the other
position as this will terminate the process.
Read Steps 1–4 thoroughly before
proceeding with the programming
procedure.
Before following the procedure, make sure
that:
• The parking brake is set.
• The transmission is in park (P) or neutral
(N). •
The ignition is off.
• The driver and front passenger safety
belts are unbuckled.
1. Switch the ignition on. Do not start the vehicle.
2. Wait until the safety belt warning light turns off (about 1 minute). After Step 2,
wait an additional 5 seconds before
proceeding with Step 3. Once you start
Step 3, you must complete the procedure
within 30 seconds.
3. For the seating position you are switching
off, buckle then unbuckle the safety belt
three times at a moderate speed, ending
in the unbuckled state. After Step 3, the
safety belt warning light turns on.
4. While the safety belt warning light is on, buckle and then unbuckle the safety belt.
After Step 4, the safety belt warning light
flashes for confirmation.
• This will switch the feature off for that
seating position if it is currently on.
• This will switch the feature on for that
seating position if it is currently off. CHILD RESTRAINT AND SEATBELT
MAINTENANCE
Inspect the vehicle safety belts and child
safety seat systems periodically to make sure
they work properly and are not damaged.
Inspect the vehicle and child seat safety belts
to make sure there are no nicks, tears or
cuts. Replace if necessary. All vehicle safety
belt assemblies, including retractors, buckles,
front safety belt buckle assemblies, buckle
support assemblies (slide bar-if equipped),
shoulder belt height adjusters (if equipped),
shoulder belt guide on seat back (if
equipped), child safety seat LATCH and
tether anchors, and attaching hardware,
should be inspected after a crash. Read the
child restraint manufacturer's instructions for
additional inspection and maintenance
information specific to the child restraint.
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FRONT PASSENGER SENSING
SYSTEM
WARNINGS
Even with advanced restraints systems,
properly restrain children 12 and under
in a rear seating position. Failure to follow
this could seriously increase the risk of injury
or death. Sitting improperly, out of position or
with the seatback reclined too far can
take weight off the seat cushion and affect
the decision of the passenger sensing
system, resulting in serious injury or death
in the event of a crash. Always sit upright
against your seat back, with your feet on the
floor. Any alteration or modification to the
front passenger seat may affect the
performance of the front passenger sensing
system. This could seriously increase the risk
of injury or death. This system works with sensors that are part
of the front passenger seat and seatbelt to
detect the presence of a properly-seated
occupant and determine if the front
passenger frontal airbag should be enabled
(may inflate) or not.
The front passenger sensing system uses a
passenger airbag status indicator that
illuminates indicating that the front
passenger frontal airbag is either ON
(enabled) or OFF (disabled).
The indicator lamp is in the center stack of
the instrument panel.
Note:
The passenger airbag status indicator
OFF and ON indicator lamps illuminate for
a short period of time when you first switch
the ignition on to confirm it is functional. The front passenger sensing system is
designed to disable (will not inflate) the front
passenger frontal airbag when the front
passenger seat is unoccupied, or a rear
facing infant seat, a forward-facing child
restraint, or a booster seat is detected. Even
with this technology, parents are strongly
encouraged to always properly restrain
children in the rear seat. The sensor also
turns off the passenger front airbag and
seat-mounted side airbag when the
passenger seat is empty.
• When the front passenger sensing
system disables (will not inflate) the front
passenger frontal airbag, the passenger
airbag status indicator illuminates the
OFF lamp and stays lit to remind you that
the front passenger frontal airbag is
disabled.
• If the child restraint has been installed
and the passenger airbag status indicator
illuminates the ON lamp, then switch the
vehicle off, remove the child restraint
from the vehicle and reinstall the restraint
following the child restraint
manufacturer's instructions.
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After all occupants have adjusted their seats
and put on seatbelts, it is very important that
they continue to sit properly. A properly
seated occupant sits upright, leaning against
the seatback, and centered on the seat
cushion, with their feet comfortably extended
on the floor. Sitting improperly can increase
the chance of injury in a crash event. For
example, if an occupant slouches, lies down,
turns sideways, sits forward, leans forward
or sideways, or puts one or both feet up, the
chance of injury during a crash greatly
increases.
If you think that the status of the passenger
airbag off indicator lamp is incorrect, check
for the following:
•
Objects lodged underneath the seat.
• Objects between the seat cushion and
the center console.
• Objects hanging off the seatback.
• Objects stowed in the seatback map
pocket.
• Objects placed on the occupant's lap.
• Cargo interference with the seat •
Other passengers pushing or pulling on
the seat.
• Rear passenger feet and knees resting
or pushing on the seat.
The conditions listed above may cause the
weight of a properly seated occupant to be
incorrectly interpreted by the front passenger
sensing system. The person in the front
passenger seat may appear heavier or lighter
due to the conditions described in the list
above. Make sure the front passenger
sensing system is operating
properly. See Crash Sensors and
Airbag Indicator (page 53).
If the airbag readiness light is lit, do the
following:
The driver and adult passengers should
check for objects lodged underneath the
front passenger seat, or cargo interfering
with the seat.
If there are lodged objects, or cargo is
interfering with the seat, take the following
steps to remove the obstruction: •
Pull the vehicle over.
• Turn the vehicle off.
• Driver and adult passengers should
check for any objects lodged underneath
the front passenger seat or cargo
interfering with the seat.
• Remove the obstruction(s) (if found).
• Restart the vehicle.
• Wait at least two minutes and verify that
the airbag readiness light is no longer
illuminated.
• If the airbag readiness light remains
illuminated, this may or may not be a
problem due to the front passenger
sensing system.
Do not attempt to repair or service the
system. Take your vehicle immediately to an
authorized dealer.
If it is necessary to modify an advanced front
airbag system to accommodate a person
with disabilities, contact the Ford Customer
Relationship Center.
See Getting the
Services You Need (page 278).
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